"Move, move faster!" Elizabeth shouted, directing the wounded to fall further back while those with only minor injured were to reform behind the wall.


    "That was a close call." Therdul grumbled, crawling out of one of the copsed mines. Seeing him, Elizabeth threw him a heal so he could continue on. They needed all the yers at the ready. After all, the cannons were in their inventories.


    "Get your ass over there!" Elizabeth shouted, throwing her thumb to her back. Two hundred meters behind the wall, the soldiers were forming into a line. It was a race against the time. Every second counted.


    "Right!" Therdul shouted in turn, sprinting to find a spot not too far, but not too close to any other yers. They had to spread the cannons evenly through the defensive formation. After all, it was stretched over multiple kilometers.


    "Let''s pray they fall for it." He mumbled, looking over his shoulder at the cloud of dust being kicked into the sky. Reforming the line instead of fully falling back was a gamble. However, to outrun the undead was no easy feat.


    —


    Thousands upon thousands of undead, from vampires to the lowliest skeletons, rushed over the remains of the border wall. The copsed ground made the terrain difficult to traverse, causing the gap between the ghouls and the others to stretch even further.


    And as they arrived on the other sides, a neat and orderly line of soldiers were waiting. Cannons at the ready. The first volley killed or injured nearly all the ghouls, the strongest among them dashed forward. Aiming to open a hole for the others to follow.


    By all rights, they should have realized the foolishness of their actions. With just a dozen left able to move, there was no way they could face thousands. Yet, their hunger clouded their judgement.


    During the siege, they had been forced to eat only scraps. With a hearty living meal before them, any rationality they had disappeared into the sky.


    And as one might expect, they fell short. Dozens of holy spells rained down upon them. Destroying the curse that kept them animated. A fewsted longer, the spells seemingly less effective. Until their body turned to ash just as they reached the line. Their venom covered ws just meters away from ripping into flesh and metal alike.


    Seeing this, the vampires halted. Yet the tide of the skeletons and zombies behind them could not be stopped so easily. Forced to move or be crushed by the mix of humanoids, monsters, and animals, the vampires did their best as a second volley of cannon fire erupted.


    Surviving, they hoped to use the time needed to reload to dash forward. s, that was when Eldriannded. Their surroundings seemed to thicken, and blue mes sprang to life in their midst. ughtering all who couldn''t outss him or Vivian in pure stats.


    The captains, capable of contending, found themselves facing Ceph or Evale.


    —


    Holding his twin daggers in an x-shape, Ceph weathered the blow from the vampire he faced. After only a few shes, he could confidently say the vampire was on Levana''s level. That, however, was no longer a problem for Ceph.


    After reaching Tier 5, his abilities had soared. Thus, even the full-blown attack from the Tier 6 vampires did not cause him to falter. Locking the vampire''s de between his daggers, Ceph fired a burst of wind bullets at its torso.


    Unable to fall back, lest it lose its only weapon, the vampire thought to weather the damage. Sadly for it, Ceph was far stronger than it could imagine. As the bullets of air tore into its flesh, they suddenly expanded and ignited.


    With a leap, Ceph took flight to avoid the burst of gore. The vampire turning into pieces of flesh scattered across the battlefield.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ng!


    "Are you that elf?" Ceph''s new opponent asked. A quick Observe told him that this one was Tier 7, her name: Clementine. She would be an urate test for his newly acquired strength.


    "Which elf?" Ceph asked, throwing his second dagger at the vampire''s heart. Flying to the side, she easily avoided the attack. Yet, as she turned to attack, she stumbled.


    "I guess you''re the other one." She mumbled, epting her aerial defeat as she used the leftovers of her spell tond safety and dodge the dagger chasing her like an incessant bug.


    Their sh was interrupted as several spells came flying at her. Taking a gamble between the flying dagger and the spells, Clementine dashed towards the dagger. Hand stretched out to grab it before it could do her any harm.


    "Bad move." Ceph mumbled, the dagger suddenly retreating. Reced by a solid wall of air that she ran into face first.


    Tears filled her eyes as her broken nose quickly repaired itself. Despite the dire situation she found herself in, Clementine smiled. She shed Ceph a grin before shrouding herself in darkness.


    ''Is this the same move as Levana?'' Ceph wondered. Taking his distance to observe its effects. ''No, it''s weathering the storm, but not consuming the spells.''


    Relieved, Ceph dashed forward. His dagger blocked by an elegant rapier. Her strikes came at him faster than his body could react. He only barely made out the strikes with his eyes. Realizing that some were bound to hit unless he retreated, Ceph dove forward.


    "You''re insane!" Clementine shouted as her rapier thrust through Ceph''s shoulder. His left arm falling numb. Yet, his dagger pierced her side.


    Trying her best to disengage, Clementine pulled back. Yet Ceph pushed forward. It was as a second round of spells arrived that she realized his n. "Truly insane." She breathed, shing Ceph another smile as she suddenly moved closer.


    ''Shit!'' Her fangs arrived at Ceph''s neck in the blink of an eye. He had barely enough time to realize her n. Yet he did not wish to reveal his cards so soon. Sadly, she was too fast for him in his elven form.


    As the spells arrived and her fangs ready to im their trophy, Ceph changed back into his true form. Her rapier ripping through him as he transformed, pain seared his mind. Luckily, her fangs missed its target. His neck was no longer where it was a second ago.


    Yet, she still had him close by, and the spells flying at them would not do her nowhere near enough damage to mean anything.


    Indeed, while the spellsnded. Of holy and fire element tore into her, she only grit her teeth as she moved her rapier about. Every movement sending shes of pain through Ceph''s mind. She seemed intent on closing the distance now.


    However, the spells had bought Ceph the time he needed. Throwing his neck at her, she was forced to dodge or have his horn tear through her. And as she leaped back, Ceph jumped to the side and took flight.


    ''Engaging her in closebat was dumb. What was I thinking? Eldrian''s rubbing off on me,'' Ceph thought as he took to the sky, keeping Clementine pinned with a barrage of spells.


    Killing her would be nice, but he only needed to keep her pinned until the others coulde to help. Luckily, she seemed fixated enough on him now. She shouldn''t drag others into their battle, at least not immediately.